Using dry leaves in a worm compost bin

Autumn leaves can be used with or in place of newspaper or cardboard bedding in your worm composting bin. They will be the carbon-rich brown component of the bin to balance out your green kitchen scraps.

If you’re just starting a bin, you can fill it with leaves, a handful of garden soil, red wiggler worms, and a pailful of kitchen scraps. When you add more kitchen scraps this fall, bury them in the leaves. The microbes in the leaves and soil will kickstart the composting process. The worms will take over and do the rest. If you look, you’ll see signs that the red wigglers have been reproducing and laying cocoons in the layers of leaves.

I like to wait for a dry day to rake. Then I store the dry leaves in a bin for use all winter.